Weaving a History
There is an instinctive altruistic quality that certain creative individuals develop as their craft progresses, one which enables them to focus on furthering their artistic pursuit in philanthropic ways.
Patricia Cheesman belongs to the group.
An English woman who was born in Singapore and raised in Hong Kong, Cheesman is a textile consultant to the Thai Ministry of Education as well as to the Lao Women's Union, and a professor at Chiang Mai University in the Thai Art Department. For more than 30 years she has been involved with in-depth field research on textiles throughout Southeast Asia and has established herself as a permanent fixture in the Thai and Laotian art scene.
In 1985, she founded Studio Naenna Textiles Gallery in Chiang Mai, which tries to place traditional weavers from around Southeast Asia in an international spotlight by selling and showcasing their products.
One of these groups is the Weavers for the Environment, which brings together weavers from Thailand and Laos. The organisation promotes the welfare of local weavers and the environment by providing training to villagers in weaving and selling their crafts, which include shawls, wall murals and clothing.
I am an artist,
she said, so I know that textiles are very special, and since no one could tell me about textiles, I went on my own to find out. When I find the answer to one question about textiles, another question always comes up. It's a wonderful journey!
Clothed in her blue Lao-Tai shawl, her eyes rimmed in green kohl, Cheesman's fragile appearance lies in contrast to her ferocious dedication to the textile community within Southeast Asia. It's this passion to discover the importance of textiles that has motivated her to travel to Laos, the place she has called home for the past eight years.
There are wonderful things about textiles, not just the techniques, but you have to know everything: Geography, chemistry for the dyes, etc. It is a cross-disciplinary study,
she explains.
In a lecture she recently gave at The Jim Thompson House, Cheesman highlighted numerous Lao-Tai ethnic groups in Thailand and their distinctive relationship with textiles.
Concentrating on such groups as the Tai Nuea, Sipsong Tjau Tai, and Tai Khang, Cheesman portrayed an intricate world filled with politics, fashion, shamans and social norms, all expressed beautifully in the patterns and symbols woven into the cloth.
But like anything in today's modern world, the art of hand-weaving is facing changes.
Textiles are becoming more commercial now, this then lowers the quality as well. At [Studio Naenna] we don't worry about time, because people want something special that is produced from the soul,
she explains. It becomes a piece of art.
On her interaction with the artistic community throughout Southeast Asia, Cheesman said: I never saw it as a mission, for it was more about the contact with the [weavers] and to help them with their income, because they helped me so much with my research [on textiles].
With regards to the future of traditional textiles she is apprehensive, yet hopeful.
In the future more people will be educated. There will be a divide in mass production versus hand woven textiles. People will also be more socially conscious, and the profits from the textile creations will go back to the country,
Cheesman says.
I think textiles will survive.
Weaving a history — Bangkok Post